Sunday, January 6, 2013

Just so you know.

This may seem a little elementary to many of you but there is some misinformation out there about what the federal government knows about your guns and I thought I would throw this out in light of all the recent talk of a possible federal gun registration.

As of right now there is no way the federal government can go to a computer and pull up a list of your weapons regardless of where they were purchased and unless you live in a locale which requires you to register them like NY City for example no other government agency can either.
We all know private party purchases are fairly untraceable but some are unaware of what happens when you fill out a form 4473 to purchase from a firearms dealer.
When you fill out a 4473 it is background check to see if you are legally able to purchase and it does contain the serial number but when the gun store calls in to the State to get approval the State is NOT given the serial number and the form is NOT sent anywhere, it is filed at the gun shop and is required to be kept there. So here is how it works if that gun shows up in a crime. Lets say police recover a Smith & Wesson gun at a crime scene, the authorities go to S&W and ask for records of who they sold that gun to. They may say it was delivered to ABC wholesale in Atlanta, they then go to ABC and ask who they sold it to and they may have sold it to XYZ Guns in Houston Texas. When the authorities go to XYZ they go to their file cabinet and pull out the form and see you bought the gun......Busted.....However if for example you said "I needed rent money last month and sold it at a gun show" the trail is lost unless you happen to know who you sold it to. Furthermore you are not required to keep a record of that and everything is totally legal.
It is not legal to purchase a gun with the intent to walk out the door and resell it but you are totally legal if your car broke down the next day and you had to sell the gun it to get your car fixed.
I only mention this because people are afraid to buy from a dealer because the think someone is keeping a list. I myself prefer to buy private but if I find what I want I am quite comfortable doing so from a dealer as well and over the years I have bought and traded many times.

So to recap, if there is a gun ban or if you are required to register all your guns and if for example the government could dig enough to get a list of guns you have bought in the last 20 years (an almost impossible task for one individual let alone millions I may add) and if they were to stand at your door with that list and ask why did you not register them you could shrug you shoulders and say "I'm sorry, I sold them all privately because I did not want the hassle of all this registration" then all is golden, just don't get caught lying about it that would not be cool and we all want to be cool.
Now that I think about it I might start selling my guns because I don't want the hassle either.

JD, what you say may well be the case but most people don't buy all their guns at Walmart and even if they did and the feds got a list it still holds true you could sell or trade them privately without a problem and the trail would be lost. Thanks for the input.

FYI: If a ffl dealer goes out of business, the licensee is required to turn in the official copy of his license and all 4473's and log books to BTAF. I"m not going to get into how easy it would be forBO to give BTAF and executive order allowing them access to a dealers records.

Anon, granted, but fact is they can't prove you still have the guns and you don't have to prove where they went so until they make it a law private sales have to be recorded and/or approved any sale before that date is a break in the chain. Thanks.

you nailed it brother...oh and by the way...when our house burned down, and we needed to dig a new well, and the sump-pump blew out 6 or 7 times, and the cat needed surgery, and the transmission went kablooey...golly gosh darnit...we had to sell all of our weapons...privately, of course, and i don't remember to who...in order to pay for all of those things. jeesh...i wish i still had a weapon to sell privately because i would really like to replace the kitchen cabinets. teehee.

About Me

30 years construction and engineering. Retired Navy Seabee/Combat Engineer. Combat tours Iraq.
I like machinery and like to work on old cars and trucks, Motorcycles, and guns. Scuba Diver.
Life member NRA.
Member of Combat Vets Motorcycle Association and VFW